News

Pig Development Could Breach Human Rights

14 February 2012

UK - An industrial scale indoor pig unit, holding 25,000 pigs, which developers are proposing to build less than 150 metres from a large women’s prison, and within 75 metres of houses, poses serious risks to the health of residents, prison officers and prisoners, and could breach their right to protection of their private and family life.

In the light of leading Counsel's legal advice, Friends of the Earth, Foston
Community Forum, Pig Business and the Soil Association have written today
to Derbyshire County Council urging them to refuse planning permission for the
proposed development at Foston in Derbyshire.

The legal letter quotes recent research which shows that intensive pig factories of
this kind can affect the health of nearby residents. This has been confirmed by
the Government's Health Protection Agency, which says that those living within
150 metres of intensive pig farms "could be exposed to multi-drug resistant
organisms".

Derbyshire County Council is obliged under the Human Rights Act 1998 to
consider the rights of third parties when deciding whether to grant planning
permission. The prison staff cannot avoid working close to the proposed
development, unless they resign from their jobs. The inmates of Foston Hall
prison are not living in the area by choice, and clearly do not have the option of
moving away if the pig development goes ahead. They will not be able to escape
the risk to their health posed by this development, and the letter warns that
allowing the pig factory to go ahead could also breach the inmates’ right to be
protected from inhumane treatment.

Dr Victoria Martindale, representative of the Foston Community Forum, said: "As
a medical professional I am concerned about the health risks that this proposal
will bring to local residents. Those living in the closest vicinity to the proposed
site include the most susceptible and at risk groups, such as children, the elderly
and individuals already with known respiratory and other diseases. It is not fair
to expect the residents of Foston to go about their everyday lives while being
forced to continuously breathe in air that will put their and their families’ health at
risk."

Peter Melchett, Policy Director of the Soil Association, said: "The objections to the
pig factory at Foston are mounting all the time, because of the growing weight of
new scientific evidence of real risks to the health of local people, and to the staff
and inmates of the prison right next door to the proposed site. Now it seems that
the legal rights of local people may also be infringed by the proposed
development."

Tracy Worcester, producer of the Pig Business film, said: "This proposal for a vast
intensive pig factory is the wrong direction for British farmers who need to be protected from cheap imports, not subjected to further unfair competition from
subsidised factory farms. The planning committee must listen to the mounting
evidence and objections and refuse planning permission. Anyone who does not
support this proposal can still make their voice heard by objecting to the County
Council."